Geek
by Adamina
Summary: Rumor had it that, in the glib district of Juuban, Chiba Mamoru infuriated Tsukino Usagi. Rumor had it that, in the bustling area of the Crown Arcade, Tsukino Usagi perturbed Chiba Mamoru.


_AN: This is my little "lets-live-out-a-fantasy" drabble. Yes, I have a thing for geeks. Their big words. Their funny equations. I just melt into a gooey puddle of nothingness. And I think that if you met our intellectual Chiba Mamoru, you'd have a thing for geeks too._

_I would also like to thank Lavvy for editing it. You're awesome, you always will be awesome._

_Lol, people are going to wonder about what I meant with the scientist/engineer comment. No disrespect for those who believe an engineer is a scientist. I work with scientists and apparently, they say, there is a rift between science geeks and engineers. The scientists say that engineers are not scientists so much as technologists. For example, a scientist would say, "Hey! I have an idea! Let's make a fiber tubule that glows!" And an engineer says, "Hey! What can we do with a fiber tubule that glows?" –the answer being: make a light bulb. In any case, one of the scientists wanted me to put it in a story (and what better story?), which is why I didn't take it out when my editor got confuzzled. Still, no disrespect._

* * *

><p><strong><em>Geek.<em>**

Rumor had it that, in the glib district of Juuban, Chiba Mamoru _infuriated_ Tsukino Usagi.

Rumor had it that, in the bustling area of the Crown Arcade, Tsukino Usagi _perturbed_ Chiba Mamoru.

Rumor had it that each day of each week, and each week of each month since the very first month one blonde bunny and one dazzling college student made contact, Chiba Mamoru _never_ missed an opportunity to tilt back on the balls of his heels, hands stuffed mischievously in his kaki pockets, and make a quip towards Tsukino Usagi which would have her face puffing a furious and stunning red.

And whilst rumors often had a fifty-fifty chance of actually claiming truth, in this case, the entire city of Tokyo, if asked, –for whatever reason they were asked- could announce that this rumor was one-hundred percent justly and utterly valid _one hundred_ percent of the time.

To… everyone else, that is.

Not to say, of course, that, at one point in time, the two 'rumories' wouldn't have confirmed all three reports. They would have! And it wouldn't have taken much more than a definite nod to put any doubts to sleep.

However, at one point in time the population of earth also thought that the planet was flat, and that Newton's laws were correct in every sense. It wasn't that all 440 billion people during the 16th century were wrong, or that Newton, sadly to say, was more of an engineer than a scientist* Lord, no. It was simply that information was overlooked and…

…Some things change.

Nobody would have guessed that 'change' would have happened on such a dismal day. The sun was hiding behind thick, grey clouds. Rain was pelting onto dense, shatter-proof glass. And, earlier that day, one monotone voice echoed off the bleak white walls of Juuban Middle School, bringing with it tidings of Biology and Chemistry.

Usagi's brows scrunched together in puzzlement. Some time during that past hour she'd dozed off –what else could she have done?—and when her fuzzy mind awoke, fate had conspired with Haruna-sensei and blended the two sciences together.

Biology and Chemistry.

Biochemistry?

Was it even possible?

"Of course it's possible, Odango Atama."

Now, on an average day, the usual rumor would prove true and Tsukino Usagi would turn around to the voice behind her with two fists balled as the sharp retort of "don't call me that, jerk" flew off of her tongue.

On the same day, Chiba Mamoru would tilt his head to the side, let his hair fall into those stunning eyes, and simply watch her in that calm way that brought butterflies to her stomach and a red glare on her face.

However, on _this_ day, the earth was round, Newton's laws were replaced with Einstein's theory of relativity, and, when Usagi turned around with a ready snap, Mamoru was wearing a drenched white lab coat, one that covered a crisp pallid button-up shirt, complete with a red and gold striped tie.

Usagi's mouth immediately went dry.

The tie itself was loose around the neck, as if its wearer had yanked it from its knot. The collar it embraced had five buttons descending, two of which had been unfastened to reveal the deep tan of said wearer's chest. His hair was dripping wet, falling in ebony locks and caressing the strong lines of his cheek bones. His chin, square, strong, dramatic, was shadowed with stubble, which meant that it was probably five o'clock. Her mother would be wondering where she was.

Still, she did not move a muscle.

Usagi knew that he was an attractive man. Half the time she caught herself staring at his profile as he spoke with Toki-kun, sipping his coffee and reading the business section in the Tokyo Shimbun Newspaper.

She told herself it was a crush. She was a teenager. Every girl in Tokyo swooned at his feet! So the stomach twisting emotions were absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

But then… she'd never seen him wearing a lab coat before. Usagi's heart fluttered. The coat probably fit him to faultlessness when dry. Yet now, drenched with sprinkles of drizzle, it managed to skew itself at a slant so it hung off his shoulder to give him an almost… flustered look, which, in combination with his eyes…

She couldn't even finish the thought. Her lungs quit breathing, even as she tried to take deep breaths.

Oh, Lord, his eyes.

His eyes were hidden by glasses. Spectacles, Mamoru would call them, and one would expect a man like Chiba Mamoru, cool, sleek, ideal, to have 'spectacles' that adorned the thinnest frames and give an 'illusionistic' impression. These, however, complimented black borders, casing thick glass and were currently fogging from the temperature change.

It was getting awfully hot, wasn't it?

And now he was looking over those black border glasses… puzzled.

"Odango?"

He just looked so…

"Hey." He snapped his finger in front of her face. His eyes shot to Motoki's. "I think we're loosing her."

…Smart.

Motoki chuckled behind her, digging deep into a cup to wipe up the soap bubbles. "She's just had a tough day." He nudged one particular Biochemistry book with his elbow. "They're looking at the different sciences colleges offer, and depicting the differences between them."

"Ah." Mamoru leaned towards the book, his hand coming up to rub at his chin. His shoulder brushed at Usagi's sleeve. A sound strangled in her throat that she managed to cover up with a cough.

"You lose your way to a laboratory?"

"Hmmm?" His attention was already caught, focused, the science book already lying open in front of him. He licked one thumb before turning a page. "Oh. No. Lab work at the hospital and…" he murmured something under his breath. Ionic Equilibria? Usagi's hand grasped the stool beside her desperately. "I have to return it to the University."

Motoki said something else. He must have. But there was a distinct buzzing in her ear that only faded when her arch-nemesis spoke—

The blonde odango frowned. That's right. He was her arch-nemesis. _Her_ enemy. The very bane of her existence. And no one, no matter how adorably brainy they looked in a lab outfit, one tie (that was hardly tied), three fastened buttons and a sheepish pair of spectacles, called her Odango Atama and got away with it—

"pH = pKa plus…Ah." His finger tapped significantly on the page and he turned his head to look her in the eye, right through those foggy glasses. "It's a good thing they're teaching this to you, Odango. The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation allows you to know the pH of a buffering system, and it just doesn't hurt to know the pH of a buffering system."

Oh boy. Intellectual words. Scientific equations. There went the fluttering again, along with the inconsistent beating of a boiling heart. Her mouth became sticky so much that she could only latch on to a stuttered, "H-Hasselbalch?" and try to gulp the word down.

"Yes, he was a scientist who redefined Henderson's buffering solution in logarithmic terms. I believe," he added, tilting his head back in concentration, "that he was trying to find metabolic acidosis which, actually," he smiled, as if it were his own private joke, "results from carbonic acid." Then, he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

Usagi had known he was smart. Perhaps that was what partly caught her attention. And mature. Most people who were intelligent captured her admiration. Yet, she'd never actually seen him in action.

Taking her silence for confusion, Mamoru's expression softened. His smile was compassionate as he studied her adorable features. "I know it might be hard at first. But, once you know what each variable symbolizes, you'll get the hang of it."

Her heart had doubled at his smile. She'd never thought that the combination of him, his softening personality, and his obvious geekiness would set off this sort of… sort of…

Her blood heated.

"You see, pKa is the equilibrium constant…"

She couldn't hold back any longer. Something inside her snapped. She was only human, her will was of the average school girl and there he was, sitting in front of her with his mussed hair sparkling with raindrops in the dim parlour light and his glasses once again making their way to the edge of his nose. His chiseled features were shadowed and set in straight lines, and his eyes were filled with such knowing, such compassion and such…

…intelligence.

Her hands did not let go of the circular green stool. No, they latched on for dear life, afraid they might develop minds of their own and assault the poor man before her. But her body did lean forward, and her feet did elevate to her toes so that her face became level with his, thanks to his hunched position at the counter.

She stayed there for a full five second, breathing hard and suddenly fearing that her heart might just drum its way out of her body, it beat so hard. She wondered if he could hear it, but only saw shock, anxiety and a touch of longing in those cobalt depths.

He had stopped talking. The knowledge that she could so easily turn the attention he so eagerly gave to his books added to the adrenalin rushing through her veins, and provided that final push which placed her lips squarely on his.

Nobody moved. Not the two 'rumories' locked in a lip-on-lip position. Not the manager of the Arcade. Not the 'rumorers' who were privileged to be the audience of the stimulated Tsukino Usagi kissing the equally stirred Chiba Mamoru on that one weekday afternoon.

Then the cuckoo clock whistled on the far wall. 5:15 P.M. A motorcycle roared by in a gust of gas, somebody somewhere dropped a steel fork on the linoleum floor, and the stimulated Tsukino Usagi was just beginning to have doubts about her sanity when strengthened bands bound her to the firm body beneath that waterlogged lab coat.

From that moment on, neither participant was letting go. Not for the world, not for an earth-shattering crisis, and definitely not for engrossing Biochemistry books.

Rumor has it that Chiba Mamoru was the most poised, self-assured and articulate intellectual this side of Japan.

Usagi sunk back down on her heels, her hands detached from the green stool when Mamoru's arms had hooped her torso to his, and was now clutching his arm's physique. Their faces remained close, their breaths mingling with their scent, and the amazement had yet to wear off –if ever it did.

Rumor has it that Tsukino Usagi had a thing for poised, self-assured, and articulate geeks this side of the Crown Parlour/Arcade.

Mamoru attempted to clear his throat, to undo his tongue from his adhesive mouth, and spin out every word he'd dreamed of saying.

"Aiyy…you…a…."

Usagi smiled sweetly, eyes sparkling with the devil, and curled her fingers tighter around the material of his sleeves.

Yes, she most definitely had a thing for geeks.

_End._


End file.
